ATO mistake re car log books

The ATO recently sent out an advice letters to a number of taxpayers advising that they needed to produce car log books for claims made in the 2005 income tax year.

These letters incorrectly stated that a new log book had to be completed if the taxpayer had purchased a new vehicle during the year. However, the Tax Act states that a you can nominate one car as replacing another and therefore the original log book can be continued for the replacement car.

The letter should have stated that a new log book would be required for each additional vehicle rather than each new vehicle.

The ATO has confirmed that letters will be sent to the affected taxpayers to rectify the problem.

Published : 14 October 2005